Wednesday’s British news round-up

SILVERSIDES ON THE RECOVERY TRAILEmma Silversides’ season is finally on the up after she was plagued with a run of bad luck in the early part of the year.

“I started the season so strongly in Italy, though even there I had bad luck with mechanical problems in the World Cup,” the Lotto Belisol rider explained.

“I carried the good form through to Drenthe but crashed heavily during the second of three one day races. I did not get an immediate diagnosis; the race doctor simply said that there was no damage to the internal organs – I had a lot of pain when breathing deeply and during efforts engaging the torso.

“I raced the World Cup event there. With no reserve present our DS requested that I try to start and see how it went. I raced hard and along with Lizzie [Armitstead] we did a great job for the two lead riders on the day [Grace Verbeke and Rochelle Gilmore]. However the pain was truly excruciating. I went straight to the physio upon my return and was told I had displaced four ribs.”

Silversides returned to action at the Tour de l’Aude, “with the intention of simply riding within myself for the first four days then to begin racing and try to make a result in one of the later stages. This wasn’t meant to be since on day six I crashed heavily and broke my collarbone.”

She was back on the turbo after two weeks and after just six weeks, she returned to kermis racing in Belgium.

Returning to racing at the Tour Féminin en Limousin, Silversides was in much better shape, despite being swallowed up by the peloton after the first stage thanks to her front derailleur throwing the chain and putting paid to her chances in the break.

Nevertheless, she managed to stay with the lead group on the final stage of the race, which included 2000 metres of climbing.

“The race split on several occasions and I always managed to stay with the front group; the job was not easy since we started the Tour with five riders and after 50km one of our girls climbed off due to illness.”

Looking ahead the Belgian-based rider aims to earn selection for the World Championships this year.

“I came so close to Varese last year, this year I want to be part of that winning team to keep the rainbow stripes on British shoulders,” she commented.

Above: Silversides in action

HUNT AND HAMMOND IN DENMARK British Cervélo riders Jeremy Hunt and Roger Hammond will both ride the Tour of Denmark, which starts today in Hirtshals.

Also set to start is Dan Fleeman, who received a last-minute call-up from Cervélo to ride the event.

The six-day stage race takes the riders 830km from Hirtshals, in the northern tip of the country to Frederiksberg, one of Denmark’s eastern islands.

Hunt and Hammond will be joined by a strong Cervélo team which also includes Giro d’Italia stage-winners, Simon Gerrans and Ignatas Konovalovas.

Also set to ride is last year’s winner, Jakob Fuglsang (Saxo Bank) and Baden Cooke of the Vaconsoleil squad.

SADDLING UP WITH THE TOUR OF BRITAIN The Tour of Britain announced yesterday a new three-year partnership with Saddleback, which will see the company provide the race with SRAM-equipped Felt bikes with Zipp wheels as well as neutral service support.

“The Tour of Britain is a fantastic platform for the promotion of any brand, but is particularly so for a fast growing company in the bicycle trade, and so we are proud to be partnering with Saddleback for this year’s race and beyond,” said Alastair Grant, Commercial Manager for The Tour of Britain.

“It is of the utmost importance to us that the riders in The Tour receive the highest quality of support and Saddleback’s input can only help to further this aim, by providing top quality support and equipment for the teams who compete in the race.”

RIDE 24 RAISING THE ROOF FOR ACTION MEDICAL RESEARCHRide 24, the 24-hour team relay bike race at Dunsfold Park, the home of Top Gear raised an astonishing £25,000 for the organiser of the event, Action Medical Research.

This year’s running of the event was the inaugural edition, with the Iron Horses team taking overall honours, cycling an impressive 821.6km in the 24 hours.

“Ride 24 is a new event for Action Medical Research and I am delighted at how successful it was,” explained Sarah Stevenson, community fundraising manager at the charity.

“We hope that many more people will sign up next year to make the event even bigger and more successful.”

Ride 24 will take place on 19th and 20th June 2010 at Dunsfold Park, Surrey. To register, go to www.action.org.uk

Registration costs £240 for a team of 4 with a commitment to raise £1000 as a team.

GB TEAM FOR MOUNTAIN BIKING WORLDSBritish Cycling announced today its team of 28 riders that will travel to Canberra in Australia in early September for this year’s mountain biking World Championships.

Reigning downhill world champion Gee Atherton will be out to defend his title whilst Commonwealth cross-country champion Liam Killeen and multi-World Cup winner Steve Peat are also set to attend.

Britain will also be sending some up-and-coming youngsters to Australia, including Annie Last (second overall in the Tour de l’Ain recently), junior downhill World Cup leader Danny Hart and reigning European junior downhill champion, Bernard Kerr.

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